LEISA 15 nº 3/4
LEISA Magazine • 15 nº 3/4 • December 1999
Early attempts at stimulating seed flows in Cuba
Humberto Rios Labrada and Julia Wright
Since the disintegration of the USSR in 1989, the Cuban agricultural sector
has had to cope with a drastic reduction in input and trade support, shifting
gradually towards more self-sufficient and rational forms of production. Many
remarkable technical and social transformations have occurred as a response
to this challenge. In the 1980s, Cuba had carried out 87% of its external trade
at preferential prices, imported 95% of its fertiliser and herbicide requirements,
and owned one tractor for every 125 ha of farmed land. After the collapse of
the socialist block, foreign purchase capacity was reduced from US$ 8,100M in
1989 to US$ 1,700M in 1993. This greatly affected the country’s ability
to buy agricultural inputs. Fortunately, since the early 1970s Cuban research
institutes had been aware of the concept of low inputs and input substitutions
and soon development and diffusion of alternative fertiliser and pest control
measures was put into place.
However, the plant breeding sector has been slower to adapt. The solution is
not as simple as technology substitution within the existing top-down infrastructure.
The industrialised system had encouraged a vulnerable crop genetic framework
with a low level of biodiversity. The homogeneous environment previously maintained
with a high use of inputs was now no longer able to support the same crop varieties.
The national seed supply system urgently needed to expand, but lacked the financial
resources to do so. Between 1989 and now, its seed production capacity for maize
and bean had fallen 50%.
The seed and breeding sector continues to operate almost wholly within the
centralised state planning system, which does not respond comfortably to rural
reality. Today, breeding strategies do take indirect yield attributes and regional
variability into account but prioritising the breeding of seed for real conditions
of low external input has yet to emerge at the institutional level. There is
a need to supplement current dependency on the formal seed supply system with
a more informal approach.
Lack of appropriate seed has meant that the informal seed system, operated
directly by and for farmers, continues to exist although weakened by the dependencies
created prior to 1989. The maintenance of wide variability and adaptation is
traditionally carried out in small plots where farmers conserve in vivo those
plants considered useful to the household. Through the informal system, the
production of seeds of the basic staples of the Cuban diet has continued in
many parts of the country. These genetic resources have provided a basis for
plant breeders selecting commercial genotypes. However, relatively little attention
has been paid to this informal seed management system in Cuba, and much genetic
variability has already been eroded.
Some plant breeders exposed to contemporary concepts and developments have
begun searching for alternative approaches. In eastern Cuba, a plant breeding
project emphasising participatory approaches has been established. An independent
initiative by a maverick plant breeder in the province of Havana started to
take forward similar concepts and to develop the project on which this article
is based.
This breeder observed striking differences in crop yields between provinces.
These were related to differences in management techniques, support and local
agroenvironmental conditions. The hypothesis was that high and stable yields
necessitate high genetic diversity within a crop. Seed flows help to encourage
this diversity, particularly flows from regions of high genetic resource variability
to those of low availability. The isolated nature of many of these high genetic
resource regions has protected them from the extension programmes of the formal
seed sector but has also hindered informal seed flow networks between distant
communities.
PPB at INCA
The aim of the project is to diversify and improve the varietal structure of
maize and common bean crops for low input conditions. Prior to the start of
the Participatory Plant Breeding (PPB) project, the Plant Breeding Department
of the National Institute of Agricultural Sciences (INCA) organised a seed workshop
and fair, in collaboration with the (then) Cuban Association of Organic Agriculture
(ACAO). The two-day workshop was held in April 1999 at the INCA research institute.
Focusing on maize, the researchers hoped to identify the varietal needs of a
pre-identified group of small producers, introduce them to a diversity of varieties,
encourage the selection of those varieties that were appropriate to their local
conditions, and distribute seed for farmer experimentation and multiplication.
The role of the seed fair was to facilitate the flow of seed from research institute
to farmer, rather than between farmers themselves. All the farmers invited came
from Havana Province, and the core group from three agricultural cooperatives
participating in an ongoing programme developing agroecological ‘lighthouse’
farms. ‘Lighthouse’ farmers were relatively accustomed to research
interaction and intervention.
Havana Province is characterised by a relatively homogeneous environment. For
the last few decades production systems have been dependent on high levels of
input and are still dependent on the formal seed supply sector. There is little
genetic diversity at present. Alternative seed material would have to come from
the neighbouring but more remote province of Pinar del Rio. This province is
characterised by a low level of external inputs systems and they have a high
level of plant genetic resources and independence from the formal sector. Farmers
maintain lines brought into the region over 15 years ago, but many reported
regularly ‘refreshing’ their seeds by introducing desired characteristics
from other sources. Many were farming so close to each other that natural cross-pollination
occurred easily. Exchange of maize seed between farmers was common practice,
particularly between the drier highland farms where there were two crops a year
and the wetter lowland farms.
Preparation and methods
Some months before the workshop, two breeders undertook maize seed collection
missions to a farming community in the province of Pinar del Rio. A selection
was made for hardiness under low-input conditions and 66 landraces were collected
including some from the focus communities in Havana Province. In addition, 4
commercial varieties were selected from research institutes. These were planted
in December on an experimental plot at the research institute. Each of the 70
lines was sown in 3 rows, and wide border strips were sown with a mixture of
different lines. Because of lack of finances, the experimental plot received
only one irrigation and no fertiliser or pest control inputs.
Eighteen farmers, formal-sector maize breeders, soil specialists, social scientists
from other research institutes, and representatives from the National Small-Farmer
Association and the ACAO attended the workshop. Participants were split into
4 teams to identify and rank general problems associated with seed management
and use. Farmers brainstormed over a list of problems and ranked the 6 most
critical factors. After this, they were asked to name the 5 crops most affected
by these problems.
On the second day of the workshop, the farmers were taken to inspect the maize
experimental plot and to examine cobs of all the maize lines from this plot
in order for each farmer to select 5 preferred lines. Seeds from these lines
would later be given to the farmers for experimentation. Short questionnaires
were used to gather information on the farmer’s evaluation of each line
chosen and the results were discussed.
Selection criteria
The main problems associated with seed management and use were identified as
seed quality, seed availability, and the incidence of pests and diseases. Availability
of training and extension, exchange of seeds, and input availability were considered
less of a problem. In the field, the farmers rapidly selected from the large
number of lines on offer. They showed an immediate preference for the mixed
varietal border stands as these showed a better response to low input conditions
than the mono-varietal rows. The importance of each of their selection criteria
is shown in Table 1.
In the selection, 80% of the farmers identified different preference criteria
for each of the five lines they had selected. Most popular was a landrace from
Pinar del Rio province. Landraces from Pinar del Rio province showed a better
performance than those from Havana province.
Insights
The observed better result from mixed variety rather than single-varietal planting,
led researchers to conclude that they would have to work out contradictions
using varietal maintenance through strict isolation as advocated by the formal
system. It became clear that farmers not only looked at yield but also valued
aspects such as plant height, stalk size, number of cobs, and number and position
of leaves. This is an indication of the potential for more alternative breeding
strategies. Selection criteria chosen for maize varieties indicated that farmers,
in general, did not practice seed saving. In fact, during the discussion period,
several of the farmers asked how to save seed. Different choices may be made
if the farmers begin saving seed.
Further, farmers used different individual selection criteria for the choice
of each variety. Researchers interpreted this as highlighting the fact that
even in relatively more homogeneous areas such as Havana Province, the PPB approach
favours an increase in diversity.
Positive reaction
The general reception given to this new participatory approach was positive,
given that farmers are accustomed to a more top-down management style. Farmers
had rapidly and easily selected between the 70 lines on show, and a very large
range of new seed lines had been extended to them.
The plant breeders involved felt that this workshop indicated the need for
new concept in seed management so yields and cob quality under low input conditions
could be improved. Stimulating the flow of genetic resource variability had
shown the potential available for increasing yield performance on trial plots
and farmer acceptance. Further, they concluded that PPB, which was usually associated
with more marginal environments, could also be an important tool in more homogeneous
conditions. In Cuba, governmental institutions appear open to an informal seed
system, but classical plant breeders may need more convincing arguments.
Humberto Rios Labrada, Dept. Plant Breeding, Instituto Nacional
de Ciencias Agricolas (INCA), Gaveta Postal 1, San Jose de las Lajas, CP 32700
La Habana, Cuba. Tel. 53 64 63867,
E-mail: dbinca@reduniv.edu.cu
Julia Wright, Group Communication & Innovation Studies,
Wageningen Agricultural University, Hollandseweg 1, 6706 KN Wageningen, the
Netherlands. Tel. 31 317 483910.
E-mail: julia.wright@alg.vlk.wau.nl